Since I wrote last Haifa has been hit by 3 or 4 (can't keep track) rocket

attacks, each one consisting of 4-6 rockets. The one before the last caused

some minor damage, apparently, but the last one hit a 3-story apartment

building in the Bat Galim neighborhood, near the shore, next to Rambam

hospital. The rocket tore off the porches from the building, and rendered

it uninhabitable, but did not cause it to collapse...the neighboring

buildings were peppered with shrapnel. Thank God, the people in the

neighborhood obviously followed protocol in these events and were indoors,

away from the outside walls, so very few people were injured. Of the four

hospitalized, two are apparently in fairly serious condition, although the

news reports are contradictory.

Each time the sirens go off we meet our neighbors in the hallway of the

apartment building and listen together for the booms of the explosions.

This experience is rapidly losing its appeal, to put it mildly.

By the way, the rocket that badly damaged that apartment building in Bat

Galim, is, according to news reports, of Syrian manufacture, and contains a

high-explosive warhead packed with shrapnel - those who fire these are

trying to kill as many people as possible. Contrast this with IDF warnings

to civilians before we attack their neighborhoods. Your local news may have

missed the following two items: (a) The IDF warned villagers in South

Lebanon to leave their villages before 10 AM today when we planned to

invade the villages in order to destroy missile launchers placed by

Hezbollah inside the villages. As a human being I am proud of the army; as

the father of a son who might be called up, I am a little concerned that

we advertise to our enemies when and where we are going to attack (think of

this next time Chomsky, Finkelstein, and other friends of Israel talk about

our Nazi-like behavior); (b) security services (=kids in uniform, Jewish,

Beduin, or Druze) in Jerusalem managed to apprehend a Palestinian with a

5-kilo (=12 pound) explosive belt. If that miserable bastard had gotten on

a bus he could have killed dozens of people. My guess is that your local

news outlets did not mention this, because no one got killed.